The Leash
by Coles Guardian
Summary: Julia and Christian go clothes shopping. Christian wonders off one too many times. Julia finds the perfect solution.


Distribution: This story cannot in part or whole be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies may only be distributed with author's permission and must include all disclaimers.

**Disclaimer : Christian Troy and Julia McNamara and the backstory for the series Nip/Tuck belong Ryan Murphy. No copyright infringement was intended. Marie, Cindy, John, and Andy as well as any other original characters as well as the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. **

**First the setting : This is a Christian and Julia pairing and Christian is living with Julia and the kids. Sean is dating Grace ï. Of course Julia and Sean are divorced for the purposes of this story but the practice and friendship remain in place.**

**Now the premise : Julia has had to take Christian clothes shopping as there was an accident involving the laundry, the clothes washer, and the dryer and an unattended adult male whom shall remain nameless ï. This is their story. And this is fluff as not a single solitary second of drama can be found within ï.**

Julia looked around herself and sighed. Gone again.

She had dragged Christian out of their place and to the store since she and he now needed replacement clothes, unless they planned on walking around naked that is. A small smile crept across her lips at the thought of a naked Christian wandering around the apartment.

When she felt her face start to heat up as a naked Christian wandered through her mind she quickly dragged her mind back to the task at hand, namely replacing the clothes said "man" had destroyed. So far they had been to two stores and each time he disappeared and only reappeared when it was time to leave. It's not that she didn't trust him but... she didn't trust him to be left unsupervised.

Glancing around she quickly saw two other women doing the same thing.

"Lost someone too?" One of the women asked her with a knowing smile on her face.

"Uhm... apparently I have." Julia said as she moved closer to the other two women.

After some quick introductions Julia and her new friends Marie and Cindy began their search for their misplaced men. As they wandered down the isle in what could only be called a search grid pattern they commiserated over their collective problem named "men".

Suddenly they heard giggling coming from the toy department and it was familiar giggling at that. The three women looked to each other and then heaven ward... the word "Men"... could clearly be heard coming from each of the now both relieved and irritated women.

"Playing video games again. Just once I would like to go shopping and not have to come to this department to find him." Marie said as they stood between the toy department and the toddler department.

"Tell me about it." Cindy agreed.

Julia looked to the two women and wondered for a moment what it would be like to be them... with their men. Then she realized that at the moment she was just like them and she smiled. Her smile turned into a frown as she heard Christian's voice.

"You are so dead John. Gotcha!" Christian's excited voice rang out.

"Damn you're good at this Chris. Hey I wouldn't laugh Andy, he killed you two levels ago."

"True John, but at least I didn't help him kill me like you just did." Andy's voice was filled with laughter.

The three women simply stood there and listened to their men play a video game.

"Some days I simply want to put a leash on that man." Marie heaved and exasperated sigh while Cindy and Julia shook their heads in agreement.

Julia's eyes suddenly came upon the very thing that they wanted and she snickered. Marie and Cindy followed her gaze and upon seeing the toddler leash she was looking at started to snicker themselves.

"Perfect!" Cindy said, a smile that could only be described as machiavellian spreading across her lips. Very quickly two more appeared on Marie and Julia's faces.

Julia quickly grabbed one and the other two did the same and before any of them had the chance to chicken out they quickly moved and paid for them. Receipt in hand they then returned to the toy department where their errant little boys were still playing video games.

But not for long, Julia thought to herself as she entered the video gamming area, Marie and Cindy on her heels.

As soon as the men saw the women they dropped the joysticks and jumped to their feet. In a few quick moves Marie had a hold of Andy and was pulling him behind her and then Cindy had a hold of John and pulled him after her. Neither man saw the wristbands go on but the minute they tried to stop they found themselves being pulled along after their wives. Both men suddenly knew that they were so in the doghouse that they simply gave in.

Unfortunately for Christian he didn't see the wristband either until it was too late.

Julia quickly secured the wristband around Christian's wrist, covering up the movement by simply grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the toy department.

"Clothes Christian, not video games. Now I have some clothes here for you to try on before you buy them. As soon as you do then we can leave." Julia started for the fitting rooms when she felt the tug on her own wrist having taken the other end of the leash and wrapping it around her own wrist.

Christian really didn't want to try on all of those clothes and it wasn't like Julia didn't know what he liked in clothes so he knew that he would like everything she had in the carriage. But he was hungry and he was annoyed that she had interrupted their game, after all he and John and Andy always played video games when they came to the store. It was a lot more fun than following their women around after all and Christian just liked to come and play games with them.

"Julia, you know my size so why don't we just pay for this stuff and go. We can grab some takeout on the way home and..." Christian suddenly stopped speaking. He had stopped walking as he had talked and when he felt the tug on his wrist he looked down only to find a bright baby blue wristband securely hugging his left wrist. Attached to said wristband was a baby blue leash whose other end was held securely by Julia.

Christian immediately tried to remove the wristband but got his hand slapped for his trouble.

"Don't even think about it." Slap. "I want to get home as well you know and we will never get there if you are left unsupervised so let's go." Julia tugged on the leash in her hand and was pleasantly surprised when he was actually pulled along behind her.

"Julia, I am an adult you know and I will not be pulled along like this." Once again Christian tried to remove the wristband and got another slap. "Julia." He heard the whiny note in his voice but couldn't help it, he didn't know what he had done that was so wrong... okay he had slipped away from her in the other two stores as well but it was boring just following her around and listening to her continuously muttering "men" under her breath.

"You leave that alone or else."

"Or else what. Hmmm... what are you going to do?" Christian thought he had her here, after all they were in a public place, a point he was well aware of himself as he pushed the sleeve of his shirt down over the baby blue wrist band.

"Do you really want to know?" Julia could see that he was uncomfortable about this but she could also see the sparkle of a challenge in his eyes. He really didn't think she would leave the leash on but he wasn't really mad about it either so she decided to play along.

Christian looked at Julia, looked in her eyes and could see a sparkle there. Does she want to play a game with me? Would she really do it? He decided to find out.

"How am I supposed to try the clothes on with this on?" There that would get her he thought to himself. Now she would have to let him take it off.

"You'll see. Let's go because I am hungry." Julia tugged on the leash making him follow behind her. She smiled a moment later as he quickly moved up beside her so that the leash couldn't be seen. She could hear him muttering the entire time as well and she couldn't help but smile a little more.

"I'm afraid that there is a three garment limit ma'am." The clerk told Julia when she saw the number of garments she had.

"Actually it's not me that needs to try some on, it's him." Julia pointed to Christian with the hand not holding his leash.

"It's still a three garment limit." The clerk said again but couldn't stop herself from looking at Christian from beneath her lashes.

Julia caught this as Christian remained oblivious, his head was down and she would swear that he was acting like a little boy who had just been scolded by mommy. She smiled at the clerk, leaning forward she whispered in her ear. "I know but couldn't you just make a small exception this one time. You see I need for him to try these on before I buy them and I have to get him home in time for his dinner." Covertly she showed the clerk the leash she was holding. "He has a tendency to wander off and it has taken longer than I expected to get his clothes."

The clerk looked up at Christian and watched as he shuffled from one foot to the other looking to her like a little boy. Smiling she whispered back to Julia. "I think it would be alright to make an exception in this case. Do you need to go in with him?"

Julia smiled and then almost burst out laughing when the clerk asked her that. One glance at Christian and she could tell that he hadn't heard the clerk. Making a quick decision and knowing somehow that if she let him go in alone he would simply sit there grumbling, not try on a thing and then come out and tell her that they all fit just fine so... "Actually yes I really should just in case he decides to wander again. Thank you." Julia took the little hanger that should hang on the door to let other people know it was occupied and proceeded to grab all of the garments she needed him to try on in one hand while pulling him behind her with the other.

"Julia what are you doing? You can't come in here?" Christian had finally looked up and seen that Julia was closing the door to the changing room while staying inside with him. Another look around and he noticed that they were in the large changing room that was used by parents and their children so that the parents didn't lose any of their little ones. "Julia." He whined again while stomping his foot this time for good measure.

"Oh for heaven's sake it isn't like you have anything I haven't seen before you know." Julia turned her head as she snickered at the very put upon look on his now turning red face.

"Okay Miss Smarty how am I supposed to try on the clothes with this on hmm?" This time he knew he had her as he held up his wrist. She had to take off the wristband in order for him to try on the clothes and once she did he was gone. His smile though didn't last long as he watched her unhook the leash part but leave on the wristband before leaning against the door he had planned on making his exit through. Scowling at her he crossed his arms and refused to move.

"Oh good grief would you prefer that I turn around? And don't even think about it or you won't be leaving this room." She could see that he was about to try and take off the wristband again and decided to let him know how wrong of a move that would be. Waiting until he stopped and began instead to remove his shirt she obligingly turned to face the wall. She smiled as she watched him in the mirror that was now in front of her.

She could tell that he didn't even realize that the mirror was there and she decided not to tell him either. After all it was only looking and boy did she like what she was looking at. She found herself breathing a little faster as he accidentally pulled his briefs down with his pants. Oh my yes! She thought to herself and for the next 30 minutes she watched as he tried on every item of clothing that she had picked out for him and there was only one thing that didn't fit.

Finally finished Christian put his own clothes back on and reached for the door. He hadn't said anything to Julia the whole time; he simply stewed silently to himself. He was still stewing or he would have seen her reach for his wrist. Before he knew what was happening she had reattached the leash. "Julia." He whined once again as she tugged him along behind her as they made their way out of the fitting rooms. She glanced back at him and he decided to shut up before he got into more trouble with her. He couldn't understand the clerks look though as they walked past her but apparently Julia did as she smiled and thanked her for the special favor.

"Julia what was that all about?" Christian asked as he once again moved to walk beside her so as to hide the leash.

"Oh that... nothing." Julia put on her best innocent look and it seemed to work as he once again began to sulk. "Give me your wallet so that we can pay and then leave." She smiled as he simply got out his wallet and handed it to her before they got to the register so that he wouldn't have to bare his wrist again. She was liking this a great deal but she didn't want to really hurt his feelings so she gave him something to think about while they checked out.

"When we get home I will give you a nice massage and you can take a nice long nap and I'll even be your pillow for your nap." She smiled as he looked at her, an excited light forming in his eyes as a smile formed on his lips. Oh yes a nice massage... a nice full body massage was in order most definitely Julia thought to herself as she glanced down at his now well hidden tushie. Oh yes indeed.

She decided to keep the leash just in case she made the mistake of leaving him unattended with a simple task again. Of course she hoped that she never did... really she did hope that but somehow she simply knew that the leash would be needed again... a small smile once again found its way to her lips as she walked to the waiting car, her Christian held securely at her side. Oh yes it most definitely will be needed again.


End file.
